Thursday, July 5, 2007

Kings of infinite space

Author: James Hynes

Paul Trilby, with a PhD in hand and meant to be a professor lands up a job in Texas Departments of Services; lives in the cheapest motel and is haunted by a cat! Paul finds himself trapped in the land of gray cubicles but soon his ennui is broken by suspicious events in the office - strange post-its on his computer screen, death of his office colleague, queer behavior of his peer group - and outside - sighting of odd people. Just when he thinks life has a lot to offer - a raise, a girl-friend and what not, he is about to experience the worst moments of his life. Moments that would have no parallels in the future and would be unparalleled in the past.

James Hynes writing vividly paints a picture of the scene in your mind; the story is quite interesting leaving no room for swatting flies; the first half proceeds like a normal story while in the latter he keeps the reader guessing about what's going to happen next and finishing off with a totally unexpected end. The end disappointed me a little though. It's unexpected but neither spectacular nor something that the reader wishes for. Instead of ending the story with a bang, it ends with a whimper.

Even though the title has a mention somewhere in the story, I didn't understand why the novel was named so.